‘Don’t Know How I’ll Sleep’, Says Dr. Kalam’s Brother

Rameshwaram: Describing late former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam as a personality who never demanded anything for himself, his brother Mohammed Muthu Meera Lebbai Maraicker on Tuesday said he doesn’t how he will sleep again at night.

“Abdul had lived with me from his childhood. Today passing away of him is a big loss for me. I don’t know whether I will sleep now onwards because I have always his thoughts in my mind. He is the personality who has never demanded anything for him,” Maraicker told

“The government had accorded its full respect to him, so there is nothing which we could demand,” he added.

Kalam’s last riteswill be performed at Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu on Thursday. The public is currently paying homage to the late president at his residence. The Parliament has been adjourned for two days. Its members offered their tribute and observed two-minutes of silence as a mark of respect to the late leader’s memory.

Kalam passed away in Shillong last evening. He collapsed after suffering a massive cardiac arrest while delivering a lecture at the Indian Institute of Management in Shillong yesterday. The government has declared a seven-day national mourning as a mark of respect for Dr. Kalam, who played a stellar role in advancing India’s nuclear programme.

Considered one of the most popular presidents of India, Kalam became the11th head of the state and occupied the post between 2002 and 2007 during the NDA government headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee.